It is proper for man to imitate his Creator, resembling Him in
both likeness and image[1] according to the secret of the Supernal
Form.[2] Because the chief Supernal image and likeness is in deeds[3],
a human resemblance merely in bodily appearance and not in deeds
debases that Form. Of the man who resembles the Form in body alone
it is said: 'A handsome form whose deeds are ugly.' For what
value can there be in man's resemblance to the Supernal Form
in bodily limbs if his deeds have no resemblance to those of his
Creator? Consequently, it is proper for man to imitate the acts
of the Supernal Crown, which are the thirteen highest attributes
of mercy[4] hinted at in the verses:

Who is a God like unto Thee, that beareth iniquity
And passeth by the transgression of the remnant of
His heritage?
He retaineth not His anger for ever,
Because he delighteth in mercy.
He will again have compassion upon us;
He will subdue our iniquities:
And Thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of
the sea.
Thou wilt show faithfulness to Jacob, mercy to
Abraham
As Thou has sworn unto our fathers from the days
of old.[5]

Hence it is proper that these thirteen attributes, which we shall
now expound, be found in man.

This refers to the Holy One, Blessed is He, as a patient King[6]
Who bears insult in a manner that is above human understanding. For
behold, without doubt, there is nothing hidden from His providence.
Furthermore, there is no moment when man is not nourished and does not
exist by virtue of the divine power which flows down upon him. It
follows that no man ever sins against God without the divine affluence
pouring into him at that very moment, enabling him to exist and to move
his limbs. Despite the fact that he uses it for sin, that power is not
withheld from him in any way. But the Holy One, Blessed is He, bears
this insult and continues to empower him to move his limbs even though
he uses the power in that momeny for sin and perversity offending the
Holy One, Blessed is He, who, nonetheless, suffer it. Nor must you say
that He cannot withhold that good, God forfend, for it lies in His
power in the moment it takes to say the word 'moment'[7] to wither the
sinner's hand or foot, as he did to Jeroboam[8]. And yet though it lies
in His power to arrest divine flow - and He might have said: 'If you
sin against Me do so under your own power, not with Mine' - He does
not, on this account, withold His goodness from man, bearing the
insult, pouring out His power and bestowing of His goodness. This is
to be insulted and bear the insult, beyond words. This is why the
ministering angels[9] refer to the Holy One, Blessed is He, as 'the
patient King.' And this is the meaning of the prophet's words: "Who is
a God unto Thee?" He means: 'Thou, the good and merciful, art
God, with the power to avenge and claim Thy debt, yet Thou art
patient and bearest insult until man repents.' Behold this is a virtue
man shoul make his own, namely, to be patient and allow himself to be
insulted even to this extent and yet not refuse to bestow of his goodness
to the recipients.

This is greater than the preceding quality. For a destroying angel
is created whenever a man sins, as we have been taught[10]: 'He who
commits a sin acquires a prosecutor for himself,' who stands before
the Holy One, Blessed is He, saying: 'So-and-so made me.' As no
creature can exist without the divine flow of power how does the
destroying angel who stands before Him exist? It would only be right
if the Holy One, Blessed is He, were to say: 'I will not nourish this
destroying angel, let him go to the one who made him to be sustained
by him.' If He were to say this the destroyer would at once descend
to snatch the sinner's soul or to cut it off or the sinner would be
obliged to expiate his offence in creating the destroyer by suitable
punishment unto the latter is made naught. The Holy One, Blessed is
He, does not behave in this fashion. He bears the sine and endures
it. He nourishes the destroyer and sustains it as He does the whole
world until one of the three things happens. Either the sinner
repents and makes and end of the destroying angel by the severity
of the penances he inflicts upon himself. Or the righteous Judge
brings the destroyer to naught by bringing suffering or death upon
the sinner. Or the sinner descends to Hell to pay his debt.

This is the meaning of Cain's plea[11]: 'My sin is too great to bear,'
interpreted by our Rabbis[12] of blessed memory as: 'Thou bearest
(that is to say, Thou nourisheth and sustaineth) the whole world;
is my sin so heavy that Thou canst not bear it (that is, sustain
it until I repent)?'

This is the greatest quality of tolerance, that He nourishes and sustains
the evil creature brought from which a man should learn until the
latter repents. From which a man should learn the degree of patience
in bearing his neighbor's yoke and the evils done by his neighbor
even when those evils still exist. So that even when his neighbor
offends he bears with him until the wrong is righted or until it
vanishes of its own accord and so forth.
____________________________________________________________In both likeness and image. 'And God said: "Let
us make man in our image, after our likeness..."' (Gen. 1:26)

the thirteen highest attributes of mercy. According to
the Rabbinic interpretation of Ex. 34:6-7
, there are thirteen divine attributes of mercy to be mentioned in prayer )R.H 17b). The Kabbalists,
however, speak, in addition, of thirteen higher attributes, belonging
to Crown, which contains no judgment. These are hinted at in the verses
quoted by C. V Joseph Gikatilla's Sha'are 'Orah, Gate X, pp. 104b-105a,
Zohar III, p. 62 and 131b.

to Jeroboam 'And it came to pass, when the king heard
the saying of the man of God, which he cried against the alter in
Beth-el, that Jeroboam put forth his hand from the altar, saying:
"Lay hold on him." And his hand, which he put forth against him,
dried up, so that he could not draw it back to him' (I Kings XIII. 4)